Healthy Carrot Cake - First Attempt

I will completely forget what I did this time around if I don't write this down.  The cake (quick bread) is still cooling, so I don't know how it's turned out yet.  I will add that later, along with changes for second attempt. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tbs ground flaxseed
1/2 cup quick cooking oats (or pulse some old fashioned rolled oats through a food processor a little, which is what I do)
1 cup shredded carrots (about two carrots; I ran mine through my salad shooter)
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 sparse cup golden raisins
2 canned pineapple rings + about 2 tbs juice (I have a feeling I should've used more juice to brighten the flavor but I was afraid of making the batter too runny)
1 cup walnut pieces, dry toasted in pan
1 cup boiling water
about 1/2 cup date syrup (because that's how much was currently in the fridge)

Directions

1) Boil 1 cup water (I just did this with a glass measuring cup in the microwave) and cover dates and raisins with it.  Let cool a bit.

2) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray inside of two small loaf pans with Pam.

3) Mix flour, salt, baking soda and powder, spices, flaxseed, and oats together in a large bow.

4) Pour water with dates and raisins into blender, add pineapple with juice, and blend for just a few seconds.  I should still have chunks of fruit in it.

5) Add walnuts, carrots, and wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to incorporate.

6) Divide batter into loaf pans and bake for 25-30 minutes (I put them in for 25 minutes, at which point a toothpick came out clean but they still looked thin in the middle, so I let them sit in the oven with it off for about five more minutes, at which point I could smell them from outside the oven and they looked more done).  Let cool.

[Edited 5/18/2020: It's good.  It's pretty dense.  Tastes better (and sweeter) the next day.  I sliced it, put it in a sealed container, and stored it in the fridge, and it was better today than yesterday.  The fridge keeps it moist, which helps with the density.  Resembles the buttery, sugary carrot cake cookies I made a couple weeks ago by more than I'd dared to hope.  I wonder how this recipe would turn out if scooped into cookies on a cookie sheet instead of baked in loaf pans.  The only change I would definitely make for next time is changing the spice from 1 tsp cinnamon to 1.5 tsp and omitting the ginger and clove since those made it very closely resemble my pumpkin bread in aroma and flavor, which is fine but I want it to be different.  I'd also add 1 tsp vanilla.  I also wonder what would happen if I incorporated sourdough discard into the recipe.  Would it lighten it up?  It probably wouldn't hurt, but I'm not sure if/how much I would need to add other ingredients to correct the consistency.]

[Edited 6/4/20: For my second attempt, I altered the spices as noted above, forgot the vanilla again, and had no date syrup so I steeped a sparse cup of golden raisins and a slightly heaping cup of dates in hot water and then continued from there as before.  Good amount of sweetness and consistency.  There might've been more pineapple juice this time; I didn't measure.  It was good though.  Only changes for next time are to remember the vanilla and maybe increase the cinnamon to 2 tsp because it's currently a very mild flavor.  Maybe add the ginger back in too.  I also have pecan pieces again, so I would replace maybe half the walnuts with pecans.]